Hornyak and his supervisor, Zack Sowers, teamed on the work with tournament contractor Bountiful Growers, a Sunbury greenhouse and nursery.

The colors historically were muted to keep them from being distracting, but course officials decided that the golfers are too focused to notice.

"I don't pay any attention to the flowers," said Steve Flesch, confirming the theory. "I try to stay out of them."

Jonathan Kaye notices but doesn't consider them diversions.

"They're very nice," he said.

The course features about two-dozen varieties in its 25,000 well-mulched flowers, which filled 10 semitrailers.

Bountiful Gardens started most of the plants three months ago in its greenhouses; the course grew about 5,000 impatiens itself.

In a race against the clock, 10 volunteers installed the flowers during two weekends before the tournament.

"The golf course wants everything to look like it has been there for months," said Greg Cannon, who with his wife, Jane, co-owns Bountiful Gardens.

One of the most beautiful beds - on a hillside near the fifth green - stops visitors in their tracks as they enter the grounds from the parking lot at the No. 6 tee.

"That garden is the first thing we saw when we came in here, so we decided that this would be a good place to sit," said Betty Moore of Napoleon, who with her husband, Don, made her first trip to the tournament. "We picked the right place to come."

Other hillside gardens are found on Nos. 12 and 15. And garden enthusiasts have the lodge, clubhouse and pavilion displays to appreciate, too.

"I just come here to see the landscaping," said 38-year-old Sherri Macik of Dublin. "I don't even know who these golfers are."